Yves Provencher, 53

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Canadian native Yves Provencher, 53, of Grymes Hill, a school soccer coach, died Sunday in Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze, of a heart attack.

Born in Montreal, he immigrated to Manhattan 25 years ago. He also lived in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, before moving to Grymes Hill in 1996.

Mr. Provencher was an executive vice president for the Willis Re-Insurance company in Manhattan.

He graduated from Concordia University in Canada with a degree in mathematics, supporting himself by working in a paint factory and as a guard in a wax museum.

Mr. Provencher supported numerous causes. He was a regular donor to the New York Public Library, attending many private lectures and parties with other library patrons. He donated to the ASPCA and to Doctors Without Borders.

Mr. Provencher coached soccer at St. Joseph Hill Academy, where his daughter, Gabrielle, was one of the players. He also loved playing chess.

He enjoyed watching the television show “The Big Bang Theory” and reading the works of Stephen Hawking, the theoretical physicist. He also enjoyed reading books about the origins of the universe, game theory and black holes.

Mr. Provencher was a parishioner of Our Lady of Good Counsel R.C. Church, Tompkinsville.

“He was a rock,” said his wife of 14 years, Mary Farag, who said her husband’s friends, neighbors and co-workers remembered him as a “good man, a great man and a fine gentleman” known for his integrity and diligence.

“You couldn’t ask for a better human being, man and father,” she said.

Her husband, she said, “had an amazing personality.”

“People were drawn to him,” she said. “He rose in the industry because he connected with people.”

His wife said that Mr. Provencher was particularly close to his niece, Julie Gauthier.

“She meant the world to him,” she said.

Surviving, in addition to his wife, Mary, and his daughter, Gabrielle, are his mother, Therese Dion, and his sister, Louise Provencher.

The funeral will be Saturday from the Martin Hughes Funeral Home, Concord, with a mass at 11 a.m. in Our Lady of Good Counsel Church. Arrangements include cremation.